This paper presents the results of a study conducted at Georgia Institute of Technology that captured client-side user events of NCSA's XMosaic. Actual user behavior, as determined from clientside log file analysis, supplemented our understanding of user navigation strategies as well as provided real interface usage data. Log file analysis also yielded design and usability suggestions for WWW pages, sites and browsers. The methodology of the study and findings are discussed along with future research directions. Keywords Hypertext Navigation, Log Files, User Modeling Introduction With the prolific growth of the World-Wide Web (WWW) [Berners-Lee et.al, 1992] in the past year there has been an increased demand for an understanding of the WWW audience. Several studies exist that determine demographics and some behavioral characteristics of WWW users via selfselection [Pitkow and Recker 1994a & 1994b]. Though highly informative, such studies only provide high level trends in Web use (e...

this document, text or image about?' Gradually moving from the left to the right in Figure 3.1, different understandings of this concept evolve

This paper presents a modified diary study that investigated how people performed personally motivated searches in their email, in their files, and on the Web. Although earlier studies of directed search focused on keyword search, most of the search behavior we observed did not involve keyword search. Instead of jumping directly to their

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The objective of the paper is to amalgamate theories of text retrieval from various research traditions into a cognitive theory for information retrieval interaction. Set in a cognitive framework, the paper outlines the concept of polyrepresentation applied to both the user's cognitive space and the information space of IR systems. The concept seeks to represent the current user's information need, problem state, and domain work task or interest in a structure of causality. Further, it implies that we should apply different methods of representation and a variety of IR techniques of different cognitive and functional origin simultaneously to each semantic full-text entity in the information space. The cognitive differences imply that by applying cognitive overlaps of information objects, originating from different interpretations of such objects through time and by type, the degree of uncertainty inherent in IR is decreased. Polyrepresentation and the use of cognitive overlaps are associated with, but not identical to, data

We describe the design, implementation, and pilot study for SenseMaker, an interface for information exploration across heterogeneous sources. We propose supporting the contextdriven evolution of a user's interests via: (1) an approximation of the current information context as the current collection of accumulated information references, and (2) a unified set of user-centered actions for examining the current context and for progressing from one context to the next. SenseMaker users examine their current context by experimenting iteratively with different organizing dimensions and levels of granularity for the current collection's display. They progress from one context to another by building upon, taking away from, or replacing the current collection. They can also return to a previous information context and continue exploring from there. Keywords Information exploration, digital libraries, information seeking, information retrieval INTRODUCTION The design of any interface must ...

Many users of online and other automated information systems want to take advantage of the speed and power of automated retrieval, while still controlling and directing the steps of the search themselves. They do not want the system to take over and carry out the search entirely for them. Yet the objective of much of current theory and experimentation in information retrieval systems and interfaces is to design systems in which the user has either no or only reactive involvement with the search process. It is argued here that the advanced information retrieval research community is missing an opportunity to design systems that are in better harmony with the actual preferences of many users--sophisticated systems that provide an optimal combination of searcher control and system retrieval power. The user may be provided effective means of directing the search if capabilities specific to the information retrieval process, that is, strategic behaviors normally associated with information searching, are incorporated into the interface. There are many questions concerning 1) the degree of user vs. system involvement in the search, and 2) the size, or chunking, of activities, that is, how much and what type of activity the user should be able to direct the system to do at once. These two dimensions are analyzed and a number of configurations of system capability that combine user and system control are presented and discussed. In the process, the concept of the information search stratagem is introduced, and particular attention is paid to the provision of strategic, as opposed to purely procedural capabilities for the searcher. Finally, certain of the types of user-system relationship are selected as deserving 2 particular attention in future information retrieval system d...

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Interfaces to databases have traditionally been designed as single-user systems that hide other users and their activity. This paper aims to show that collaboration is an important aspect of searching online information stores that requires explicit computerised support. The claim is made that a truly user-centred system must acknowledge and support collaborative interactions between users. Collaborative working implies a need to share information: both the search product and the search process. Searches need not be restricted to inanimate resources but people can also search for other people. The ARIADNE system is introduced as an example of computerised support for collaboration between browsers. A number of systems offering varied approaches to supporting collaboration are surveyed and a structure for analysing the various aspects of collaboration is applied.

Understanding the extent to which people’s search behaviors differ in terms of the interaction flow and information targeted is important in designing interfaces to help World Wide Web users search more effectively. In this paper we describe a longitudinal log-based study that investigated variability in people’s interaction behavior when engaged in search-related activities on the Web. We analyze the search interactions of more than two thousand volunteer users over a five-month period, with the aim of characterizing differences in their interaction styles. The findings of our study suggest that there are dramatic differences in variability in key aspects of the interaction within and between users, and within and between the search queries they submit. Our findings also suggest two classes of extreme user – navigators and explorers – whose search interaction is highly consistent or highly variable. Lessons learned from these users can inform the design of tools to support effective Web-search interactions for everyone.